Last week, two of my aunts threw a bridal shower for me. As you can see from the above photo, it was beautiful. And, aside from a small mishap that temporarily landed one of the aforementioned aunts in the ER (she sliced off the tip of a finger mixing something in preparation for the party—fortunately, she’s on the road to 100% recovery and, as we learned when she made it back to the house, her only real fear was that she was going to miss the event and disappoint me! My reaction to that bit of information was a mixture of consternation and the realization that I am very much loved by my family) and it went off without a hitch.

I have a developing theory about why wedding-related events and issues have the names they do. Being engaged, for example, as I mentioned in a much earlier post, exactly fits its Webster dictionary definition of essentially being busy (oh, wedding planning, you truly are a full-time job). There are a couple of others (although I have not figured out how to connect “guest list” with “lots and lots of stress”), but my latest (and maybe cheesiest) addition is that bridal showers are an event precisely designed to shower the bride with more love and care than she can possibly take in on any single day.

This, at least, was my very happy experience. A room filled with family and friends (of the female persuasion, of course), good food, a few advice-related games, lots of laughter, more gifts than I will ever be able to repay and only a minor amount of affectionate embarrassment.

As a side note, it was also a bit of good practice for the wedding day. I’m notoriously bad at coping with large amounts of focused attention, but at my shower I got to sit in the middle of the room with a group of women watching my every move and reaction. For anyone out there who might sometimes occasionally find herself to be “shy,” I highly recommend as many of these situations as possible. Particularly if you, like me, have a tendency to blush. Thank goodness for photo editing technology, because I’ll be relying heavily on my photographer to make sure that I’m not blazing red in each and every one of my wedding photos.

Anyway, the shower was fantastic. I got the chance to learn from women around me that I admire and respect, to spend a few minutes simply sitting back and enjoying the wedding rush around me and to see how much joy marriage has brought to my friends and how excited they are to see the changes it will make in my life.

Before I go, one of my favorite pieces of advice came from my twelve-year-old cousin, who told me that I should always remember to be myself, because that’s who Shayne wants to marry, and to remember that we need to communicate (her brother, apparently, is no good at this part) and to always forgive each other’s mistakes. So perfect, so simple.